The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1887-11-03
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
The Weekly Discourse Of the Great
Brooklyn Preacher
Subjects ''FOrgiveness Before
SundOwn."

What a pillow embroidered Of all colors
hath the dying day. The cradle of clouds
from which the sun rises is beautiful enough
but it is surpassed by the many colored
mausoleum in which at evening it is buried.
Sunset among the mountainsl 1t almost
takes ones breath away to recall the scene.
The long shadows stretching over the plain
made the glory of the departing light on the
tiptop crags and struck aslant through the
foliage the more transpicuous Saffron and
gold, purple and crimson commingled. All
the castles of cloud in conflagration. Burn
ing Moscows on the sky. Hanging gardens
OF roses at their deepest blush. Banners of
vapors red as II from carnage, in the battle
of the elements, The hunter among the Adj
rondacks and the Swiss villager among the
Alps know what is q sunset among the
mountains. After storm at sea the roll
ing grandeur into which the sun goes down
TO battle at nightfall is something to make
weird and splendid dreams out of for a
lifetime. Alex ander Smith in his poem COM
pares the sunset to "the barren beach of hell"
but this wonderful spectacle Of nature makes
me think of the FURNISHED wall of heaven.
Paul in prison writing my text remember
some OF the gorgeous sunsets among the
mountains of Asia Minor, and how he had
often seen the towers Of Damascus blaze In
the close of the Oriental days, and he flashes
out that memory in the text when he says;
Let not the sun go down upon your wrath"
:. Sublime and all suggestive duty for people
then and people now. forgiveness before
shutdown He who never feels the throb of
Indignation is imbecile He who can walk
among the injustices of the world, inflicted
upon himself and others, without flush of
cheek or flash Of eye or agitation of nature,
Is either in sympathy with wrong or semi
idiotc. When Ananias, the high priest Or
dered the constables of the court room to
smite Paul in the mouth, Panl fired up and
said: "God shall smite thee, thou whted
wall" In the sentence Immediately before
my text Paul commands the Ephesans: "Be
ye angry and sin not" 1t all depends on
what you are mad at, and how long the feel
ing lasts whether anger is right or wrong
Lie is full OF exasperations. Saul after
David, Succoth after Gideon, Korah after
Moses, the Pasquins after Augustus, the
Pharisees after Christ, and every one has had
his pursuers, and we are swinded or belied or
mlsrepresented or prosecuted or in some way
wronged, and the danger is that healthful
indignation shall become baleful spite, and
that our feelings settle down into pro-
ionged outpouring of temper displeasing to
God and ruinous to ourselves, and hence the
important injunction of the text: LET not
the sun 90 down upon your wrath"
Why that limitation to ones angere Why
that period of flaming vapor set to punctuate
flaming disposition! What has the sunset
got to do with ones resentfu emotionss Was
1t a haphazard sentiment written by Paul
l.
OF five reasons why We should not let the
sun set before our temper sets.
First, because twelve hours is long enough
to be cross about any wrong inflicted upon
us. Nothing is so exhausting to physical
health or mental faculty as protractei in
diligence of ill humor. 1t racks the nervous
system 1t hurts the digestion, 1t heats the
blood in brain and heart until the whole body
is first overheated and then depressed. Be-
SIDE that, it sours the disposition, turns one
aside from his legitimate work, expends en-
orgies that ought to be better employed, and
does us more harm than it does our antago-
MIST. Paul gives us a good, wide al
lowance OF time for legitimate denunciation,
from o'clock to o'clock. but says: "Stop
There" Watch the descending orb of day, and
when it reaches the horizon take reef in your
disposition. Unloose your collar and cool
Oft. Change the subject to something de-
ightfully pleasant. Unroll your tight fist
and shake hands with some one. Bank up
the fires at the curfew bell. Drive the
growing dog of enmity back to its kennel.
The hours Of this morning will pass by, and
the afternoon will arrive, and the sun will
tegin to set, and l beg you on its blazing
heai tn throw all your feuds, invectives and
Satires
Other things being equal the man who pre-
serves good temper will come out ahead. An
old essayist says that the celebrated John
Henderson, Of Bristol, England was at O
dining party where political excitement ran
91gh and the debate got angry and while
henderson was speaking his opponent, un-
able to answer his argument, dashed glass
OF wine in his face, when the speaker deliber-
ately wiped the liquid from his face and said:
This, sir, is depression; now, if you please,
for the main argument" While worldly
philosophy could help but very few to such
esquipoise of spirit, the grace of God could
help any man to such triumph ''Im-
possible" you say, Il would have either
left the table in anger or have knocked
the man down" But l have come to
believe that nothing is impossible if God
help me, since what I saw at Beth, Shan
faith cure in London, England two sum-
mers ago. While the religious service was
going on Rev. Dr. Boardman, glorious man,
since gone to his heavenly rest, was telling
the score Of sick people present that Christ
was there as of old to heal all diseases and
that, If they would only believe, their sick
ness would depart. saw a woman near me-
with hand and arm twisted of rheumatism,
and her wrist was fiery with inflammation,
and it looked like those cases of chronic
rheumatism which we have all seen and sym
Pathized with, cases beyond all human heal
ing. AT the preachers reiteration of the
words: will you believes Do you believed
Do you believe nowp heard this poor sick
woman say, with an emphasis which sounded
through the building: II do believe" And
then She laid her twisted arm and hand out as
straight as your arm and hand, or mine. If
had seen one rise from the dead would not
have been much more thrilled. Since then
l believe that God will do anything in an
swer to our prayer and in answer to our
faith, and can heal our bodies, and if our
soul is all twisted and misshapen of revenge
and hate and inflamed with sinful procivity,
he can straighten that also and make it well
and clean. Aye, you will not postpone till
sundowh forgiveness of enemies if you can
realize that their behavior toward you may
be put into the catalogue of the ''all things
that work together for good to those that
love God" have had multitudes of friends,
Dut have found in my own experience
that God SO arranged it that the greatest
opportunities Of usefulness that have been
opened before me were opened by my enemies.
And when, years ago, they conspired against
me, that opened all Christendom to me as a
field in which to preach the Gospel. So you
may harness your antagonists to your best
interests and compel them to draw you ON tc
better work and higher character Suppose
instead of waiting until six minutes past five
O'Clock this evening, when the sun will set
ness before meridian.
Again, we ought not to let the sun go down
on our wrath, because we will sleep better il
we are at peace with everybody. Insomnia
Is getting to be one of the most prevalent Of
disorders How few yople retire at II
in the morning! To relieve this disorder
narcotics and sedatives, and choral, and
bromide of potassium. and cocaine and in
toxicants are used, but nothing is more ini
portant than a quiet spirit if we would wiz
somnolence How is a man going to sleel
when he is in mind pursuing an enemy! With
what nervous twitch he will start out of 9
dream! That new plan for cornerine
his foe will keep him wide awake while
the clock strikes II, ~, l, Q, 8, T. l give
you an unfailing prescription for wakeful
ness, spend the evening hours rehearsine
your wrongs and the best way of avenging
them Hold a convention of friends on th
subject in your parlor or Office at or
Vclock. Close the evening by writing bit
ter letter, expressing your sentiments TAX,
from the desk or pigeon hole the papers in tn
case torefresh your mind with your evening
meanness Then lie down and wait for tn
coming of the day, and it will come befor
sleep comes, or your sleep will be a worriet
quescence, and if you take the precautiol
to lie fiat on your back frightful nightmare
Why not put a bound to your animosi
tyi Why let your foes come into the sanctitie
of your dormitoryl Why let those slanderer
who have already torn your reputation t.